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	Emergyanalys	Livscykelanalys (LCA)	Materialflödesanalys (MFA)
Ämnesområde	Hållbarhet	Hållbarhet	Hållbarhet
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	1996	2009	2004
Upphovsperson	Howard T. Odum	ISO 14040 framework; Finnveden et al.	Brunner & Rechberger
Typ	Environmental systems accounting	Environmental impact accounting pipeline	Quantitative systems accounting method
Ursprungskälla	Odum, H. T. (1996). Environmental Accounting: Emergy and Environmental Decision Making. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-0-471-11442-0	Finnveden, G., et al. (2009). Recent developments in life cycle assessment. Journal of Environmental Management, 91(1), 1–21.	Brunner, P. H., & Rechberger, H. (2004). Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis. Lewis Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-56670-604-9
Alias	Embodied Energy Analysis, Environmental Accounting (Odum), Emergy Accounting, Emerji Analizi	Life Cycle Analysis, Cradle-to-Grave Analysis, Ecobalance, Yaşam Döngüsü Değerlendirmesi	Substance Flow Analysis, Bulk-MFA, Material Flux Analysis, Malzeme Akış Analizi
Närliggande	3	3	3
Sammanfattning	Emergy Analysis, developed by systems ecologist Howard T. Odum and formally presented in his 1996 book, is a biophysical accounting method that converts all inputs to a system — energy, materials, labor, and services — into a common unit of solar energy equivalents called solar emjoules (sej). By tracing how much prior environmental work was required to produce each input, it enables researchers, engineers, and policymakers to compare fundamentally different resource types on a single thermodynamic basis.	Life Cycle Assessment is a systematic, ISO-standardized methodology for quantifying the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service across its entire life span — from raw material extraction through production, use, and end-of-life disposal. Codified in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, and comprehensively reviewed by Finnveden et al. (2009), LCA enables decision-makers to compare alternatives, identify environmental hotspots, and support eco-design, with applications spanning products, buildings, energy systems, and public policy.	Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is a systematic method for quantifying the flows and stocks of materials within a defined system boundary over a specified time period. Introduced comprehensively by Paul H. Brunner and Helmut Rechberger in their 2004 handbook, MFA applies mass-balance principles to track how raw materials, products, wastes, and emissions move through industrial, urban, or national metabolisms, enabling evidence-based resource management and waste policy.